Queenstown police angry

Press, 21 December 1976, Page 4

Queenstown police angry

PA Queenstown The Queenstown police are angry after a tramping party in the Rees Valley at the head of Lake Wakatipu had called in full emergency services for a woman found to have a sprained ankle. The group’s action could jeopardise future rescue operations in the area, the police said. Sergeant W. W. Maloney said that on Saturday night the party called the Mount Aspiring National Park ranger at Glenorchy, using a radio from Delta Hut. They said the woman had a suspected broken ankle and was suffering from exposure. A decision to use a helicopter to carry a rescue party from Queenstown was made on Sunday morning. The helicopter carried a doctor and a pneumatic splint — but w-hen the emergency team arrived at the hut, it was found the

woman’s injury was not serious.

“After two days rest, she would have had enough strength to walk out with the rest of the party,” Sergeant Maloney said. "But they wanted to come out sooner—and so they decided to take this action.”

He was strongly critical of the group.

"I have to make a decision about how to deal with each

emergency which comes up. fl people cry ‘wolf,’ that is going to affect my decision,” Sergeant Maloney said. The alternative to using a helicopter would have been a rescue team of 12 men which would have taken six hours to carry the woman out once they had reached the Delta Hut

“That sort of thing just wasn’t on,” Sergeant Maloney said.